I have a friends thats a sophemore he is 15, he turns 16 next year. He runs 100 m dash and he is very fast, he the typic mesomorph with good genetics. He runs on 11,50 and i ask him if he is every touch a weight he said no, his coach just makes himm do back ext., crunches, and other dumbp exercises that barely chalenge your CNS.

So i was wondering if he can actually start doing some weight trainig (with a good weight progression of course, and trying always yo keep go technique over erverything). Can he start at this age?? or he is too young?

he has not imporve his best time since last year so he has been stall in progress. I have read starting strenght, advances on functional trainig from boyle, so i know a little bit about this.

[quote]joaco34 wrote:
I have a friends thats a sophemore he is 15, he turns 16 next year. He runs 100 m dash and he is very fast, he the typic mesomorph with good genetics. He runs on 11,50 and i ask him if he is every touch a weight he said no, his coach just makes himm do back ext., crunches, and other dumbp exercises that barely chalenge your CNS.

So i was wondering if he can actually start doing some weight trainig (with a good weight progression of course, and trying always yo keep go technique over erverything). Can he start at this age?? or he is too young?

he has not imporve his best time since last year so he has been stall in progress. I have read starting strenght, advances on functional trainig from boyle, so i know a little bit about this.

Agree with the Badger! Jumps and even drilling the technique of coming out of the blocks forcefully can totally “stimulate the CNS.”

Crunches are kind of whack, but leg raises and sidebends and other real ab moves seem great for sprinters. Back raises, back extension, anything for hamstrings would be good too.

I know it’s tempting to take an explosive guy and train him to do jump squats and power snatches. But don’t mess him up! Train the muscles that stabilize the pelvis and knees. Strengthen his technique and sprinting fundamentals. Keep little dude healthy.

I agree with those above. If he is improving there is no reason to lift weights. I wouldn’t lift until it is absolutely necessary and other means (hills, ploys,sled, med ball, calisthenics) have been exhausted.

Not to beat the dead horse, but I’d let his coach coach him. Everything an athlete does is a component of a system; you can’t just add something in compartmentalized from the rest of the plan. Not improving on an already relatively fast time for a relatively short period in his athletic career doesn’t mean what he’s doing isn’t working.

The purpose of weight training for a sprinter is not to challenge the CNS–he’s already doing that when he sprints. A sprinter’s weight training should be simple, short, aimed at optimizing muscle mass, not maximizing lifting numbers.